Quote of the week

Creativity is an area in which younger people have a tremendous advantage, since they have an enduring habit of always questioning past wisdom and authority. They say to themselves there must be a better way. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they discover that the existing, traditional way is the best. But it is that one percent that counts. That is how progress is made.

Bill Hewlett, Co-founder
Hewlett-Packard Corporation

Generational article "Boomers, Gen Yers Mix it up"

By Joyce Pellino Crane, Globe Correspondent September 9, 2007

Talented young workers aim to fit in with a graying workforce

They wear flip-flops to work, reveal personal information online, and see no reason why their work schedules can't be flexible.

Ladies and gents, please welcome Generation Y now tap dancing around their boomer managers in the workplace.

The mixing of these two groups - with Gen Xers wedged in the middle - is one of the hottest human resource topics, as employers struggle to attract and keep the valuable but unharnessed young talents of Generation Y. All eyes are on this emerging group who are destined to replace an aging workforce and match work culture to their cyber-hip lifestyle. But like all newcomers, Gen Yers have a thing or two to learn about fitting in before they turn things upside down.

"Children today, by and large, are brighter than the previous generation and they know things faster and have access to such a wide variety of information," said James French, 51, executive vice president of human resources for Hill Holliday of Boston. "Each generation has been quicker on the uptake than the previous."

Right now America's workforce continues to get grayer: By next year, when the oldest of the boomer generation turns 62, the median age of the workforce is expected to rise to 40.7 from 38.7, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those older workers are soon to be leading an exodus into retirement that will put pressure on employers to find younger replacements.

Moreover, there are several important sectors which will have acute needs for new qualified employees in the coming years. The Massachusetts Division of Career Services, says job growth will balloon over the next seven years in the following fields: Computer and mathematical occupations by almost 26 percent; network systems analysts, by 43 percent; and biomedical engineering positions by 34 percent. Also, biochemist, biophysicist, and medical scientist jobs will grow by 31 percent.

Even now, though, there are a number of workplace challenges. Generation Y, born since 1978, are supposedly nonconformists. Older workers, those born between 1946 and 1964, are now the middle and upper level managers. And despite the radical changes many from these generations trumpeted during the '60's and '70's, they now represent the workplace status quo. (Ironically, the in-between Gen Xers who helped usher in the volatile dotcom era of the late '90's, are getting less attention while everyone focuses on the incoming and outgoing generations.)

Though she tries not to stereotype, there are some undeniable differences between the boomers and Generation Y, also called millennials, said Nancy Mobley, the president and chief executive of Insight Performance Inc., of Dedham. Boomers respect authority; millennials question it. Boomers grew up during the women's movement. Gen Yers are its off-spring. Such experiences shape each generation. Mobley's team helps companies manage human resource needs, and is assisting the owners of a Boston consulting firm develop a pipeline of junior consultants who will be required to meet with clients.

"So here we have this crop of baby boomers and this new crop of millennials coming," she said. "What we're finding is a lot of differences between the culture of the established company and this new crop of workers."Among the biggest issues is dress, she said. The younger group's tight fitting clothing and casual wear are not blending with the corporate culture. She's advising the managers to establish a dress policy, and to tell the younger workers to understand the culture and dress appropriately. "You cannot show up in a t-shirt and flip-flops," she said. On the other hand, said Mobley, employers needs to realize that flexible work hours and autonomy may be a great incentive for recruiting younger talent. Millennials want more say in their workplace projects, but also want more time for hobbies and family life. Yet, where boomers might have been more willing to sacrifice homelife for late hours at the office to advance their careers, millennials seem more willing to stand up and demand a better balance between time at work and outside. Though such overtures raise questions about the younger generation's work ethic, it also forces managers to rethink their position and lighten up or lose talent to a competitor.

Savvy as they may be in some areas, Generation Y can be surprisingly naive when it comes to a defining medium of their age: The Internet. Posting photos of yourself at a frat party or posing suggestively on social networking websites is a real no-no, say specialists. And the millennial babes have yet to understand why the boomers cringe when they hear about the younger groups' revealing entries on such websites as Livejournal.com.

The first generation to grow up with the Internet, millennials see it as a cyber playground and have no sense of its international reach, said French."The younger the population, the more open they are in every sense of the word in terms of the way they dress, the way they speak, the way they communicate through the Internet," said French, who teaches an organizational dynamics class at Boston University. "They don't have much of a filter in terms of communicating and in terms of the way they act and dress."

Employers search social networking sites before making a job offer, said Mobley, and some profiles have been known to raise eyebrows.Specialists note that photographs can reveal too much about personal interests, and tell-all comments about family life or relationships can undermine a professional composure. "It's definitely not the message you want to convey back to the workplace," Mobley said. "My advice is don't do that. You'll be automatically eliminated."

Sarah Felch may not dress the part of a typical Generation Yer. The 22-year-old staff assistant at the Harvard University Alumni Affairs and Development office is the youngest of an eight-member team. But for work one day last month her outfit consisted of the relatively nondescript khaki pants, brown loafers, a white-collared shirt and a navy cable knit sweater. "Everyone does a pretty good job with fitting in with the culture," she said of her office setting. But among the reasons she took the Harvard position are the benefits it offered, benefits that outweighed offerings from other potential employers: Tuiton reimbursement and affordable rates on credit courses, discounted gym membership and tickets to sports events and movie showings and weekly "Spirit" days, designed to bring people together to share a snow cone or a waffle breakfast for a few moments of enjoyment.

"I think the benefits Harvard offers are wonderful to people of my generation," said Felch, who graduated in May from Connecticut College with a bachelor's of arts degree. "That's something no one else can compete with in my mind." In five years, Felch could have a new career direction thanks to the continuing education opportunities at Harvard, or she may have garnered so much knowledge about nonprofit fund-raising that she'll be in high demand. "People who have about five years experience in a specific area," said Jeff Arnold, senior consultant for Watson Wyatt Worldwide of Wellesley, "become even more valuable. That's where the talent war is." The concern is so pervasive that the Northeast Human Resources Association is holding a conference on the challenges of managing millennials and boomers.

Attracting a technical engineer at the beginning of his career can mean millions in future revenue, said Arnold, "because these are the people who are designing new products. "So, if I'm looking to attract that kind of person and team, then what I want to know is what are the kinds of things that motivate the young savvy technical person," he said. Mobley agreed. "Instead of saying I don't understand this new generation," she said, "embrace and understand it, because it's here."

How do you feel about the article "Boomers, Gen Yers Mix it Up"

QUESTIONS FROM THE ARTICLE ABOVE
Please feel free to comment on these or any of the information imparted in the article

Children today, by and large, are brighter than the previous generation and they know things faster and have access to such a wide variety of information," said James French, 51, executive vice president of human resources for Hill Holliday of Boston. " Do you agree or disagree?

"So here we have this crop of baby boomers and this new crop of millennials coming," she said. "What we're finding is a lot of differences between the culture of the established company and this new crop of workers." Do you find these differences in your company?

"Where boomers might have been more willing to sacrifice homelife for late hours at the office to advance their careers, millennials seem more willing to stand up and demand a better balance between time at work and outside". Do you believe that this is true?

"Savvy as they may be in some areas, Generation Y can be surprisingly naive when it comes to a defining medium of their age: The Internet. Posting photos of yourself at a frat party or posing suggestively on social networking websites is a real no-no, say specialists. And the millennial babes have yet to understand why the boomers cringe when they hear about the younger groups' revealing entries on such websites as Livejournal.com". Did you know that some prospective employers search social networking sites before making a job offer? How do you feel about that? Should your postings be a criteria for denying you a job?

Generational Article: Why Gen. Y Scares Employers

Why Gen. Y Scares Employers October 4th, 2007 by Jessica Vosgerchian

Source: Michigan Daily & http://www.uwire.com/2007/10/04/why-gen-y-scares-employers/

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Generation Y’s working style has its older colleagues grumbling under their breath. But shifting expectations of both employees and employers means the office atmosphere has changed for good.

As you stand in line at a company’s job fair table, waiting for another aloof recruiter to take your resume from your trembling hand, you can be comforted by the fact that you make that company pretty nervous, too. You, and thousands of other young Internet networkers, are the reason who companies like Aetna, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Verizon Wireless pay consultants to tell them how to handle the office alien that is the Generation Y employee.

Anna Ivey, a former dean of admissions at University of Chicago Law School, makes a living advising employers how to adjust to new recruits fresh out of college and graduate school. "Generally, we see a bit of a culture clash in the workplace," Ivey said. "For people who are older than Gen Y there are some re-occurring complaints."

Ivey said managers, who are used to the working style of Generation X, think that incoming classes of employees have problems dealing with authority, receiving criticism and conducting themselves professionally. They say that Generation Y employees do the bare minimum to complete a task and still expect to be rewarded.But if employers think you’re lazy and unprofessional, job market statistics show you’re in a good position to be a difficult employee.

A 2003 study of workplace trends by RainmakerThinking, Inc. estimated that for every two employees who leave the workforce, one will enter it. This year, 79 percent of employers in a CareerBuilder.com survey expect to hire recent graduates, compared with 70 percent in 2006.Ivey said that because of the low supply of workers, employers must learn to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of their 20-something employees. "If you don’t figure out how they think, what makes them tick and what motivates them, you’re going to be in trouble," she said. Generation Y has some key assets, Ivey said. Young employees are more flexible, expecting and desiring less regularity out of their work day. Growing up during the computer boom, they are comfortable learning new technology and, as websites like Facebook.com demonstrate, take an effective online approach to networking.

A manager might be riled by the upstart on his sales force who disregards the traditional workday, but what that young gun accomplishes using his Blackberry on his own schedule could be more valuable. Part of the reason managers are willing to bend to the ways of the young, though, could be that they expect they won’t have to deal with those employees for long. If you think getting a job after graduation is hard, try finding a long-term benefits package.According to RainmakerThinking’s report, employers are moving away from holding on to full-time employees and adopting short-term hiring practices in an attempt to stay globally competitive. As competitors emerge across the oceans, companies realize that economic affluence this year doesn’t mean they won’t have to liquidate a regional branch the next."To remain viable, employers have been forced to adopt extremely flexible and efficient staffing practices," the RainmakerThinking report said. "In turn, employees have adjusted by adopting more aggressive attitudes, expectation and behaviors."

The report said today’s employees feel less secure about their future at a company, are more concerned that international events could affect their jobs and value immediate compensation over the promise of long-term rewards.Instead of a sense of unity or the promise of future reward encouraging hard work, employees have an attitude of getting "what you can while you can." Supervisors surveyed in the report complain about employees’ low-performance standards and lack of commitment. Employees in the report are more likely to make special requests of their bosses and indentify less with the mission of the company.

Tension between older supervisors and new Generation Y employees could be attributed to more than generational differences. As demands for productivity increase, companies are putting pressure on middle management to stay competitive in a global field. The report said supervisors are frustrated with rising expectations for the amount of work they goad out of employees. But Ivey said recent graduates come into the office with a different outlook before they’re given the chance to be jaded by volatile job security. It’s developed, she said, before they even leave home for college.

Ivey said the parents of Generation Y prevented their children from learning the reality of life outside the nest by coddling them. Having grown up in a time where every kid on the soccer team got a trophy, a young employee is likely to expect praise for mediocre work. If that gratification doesn’t come, if in its place is termination, college graduates of Generation Y have no qualms running back to mom and dad. A study by Experience Inc. said 58 percent of college graduates from the classes of 2000 to 2006 moved home after graduation and that 32 percent lived there for more than a year. In a survey of 18- to 25-year-olds by Pew Research Center, 73 percent see their parents at least once a week and half see them daily.

Ivey said employers complain that the parents of young employees will sometimes try to extend their parental protection to their children’s professional lives by meddling in affairs at the office."I think you have a whole generation of 20-somethings that are uncomfortable making decisions on their own," she said. "How do you make leaders out of people who seemingly can’t do anything without their parents?"

There are exceptions to the rule. Ivey said she tells employers to look to Army graduates or children of immigrants for employees with discipline and an appreciation of opportunity. And if employers really want to avoid the personality characterizing the applicant pool, they can always move operations to another country.

"When managers complain about work being just OK, there are a lot of eager, hardworking people overseas who are willing to do that work for you," Ivey said.

What is your take on the article "Why Gen Y. Scares Employers

QUESTIONS FROM THE ARTICLE ABOVE
Please feel free to comment on these or any of the information imparted in the article

Do you feel like an alien in the office?

Do you feel that there is a culture clash in the workplace?

They say that Generation Y employees do the bare minimum to complete a task and still expect to be rewarded". Do you think that is true?

"Generation Y has some key assets", Ivey said. "Young employees are more flexible, expecting and desiring less regularity out of their work day". Do you think this is true?

Ivey said the parents of Generation Y prevented their children from learning the reality of life outside the nest by coddling them. Having grown up in a time where every kid on the soccer team got a trophy, a young employee is likely to expect praise for mediocre work. How do you feel about this comment?

Ivey said employers complain that the parents of young employees will sometimes try to extend their parental protection . Has this ever ocurred in your workplace?

A Session Just for You!

FOR THE FIRST TIME... The Eastern Seminar will include the:
A roundtable discussion about how to work within a multi-generational workforce. This is an open forum for Future Leaders, who are the younger component of the vacation rental industry as well as those who are striving to emerge as leaders of the vacation rental industry. This forum is an opportunity for future leaders to discuss their role in the workplace, to share their methods for getting ahead and to acquire solutions to the daily challenges encountered in dealing with individuals from a variety of age groups.

A link to the entire Eastern Seminar preliminary program can be found on the right. If you have anyadditional questions, please contact Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) at vrma@vrma.com.

Attention Future Leaders

Generations in the workforce and at work, this is the topic that will be introduced on this blog starting:

NOW!

This Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) Future Leaders Forum Blog is a product of a world and a workplace that is multigenerational, and recognizes that the members of this association are as well. This blog will provide Vacation Rental Managers and staff with resources regarding generational communication, job search, recruiting, retention, and marketing, as well as a forum to discuss the value of these resources and any individual problems or solutions that a blog member may have.

These resources will include broad generational topics, as well as information on how these might specifically effect the Vacation Rental industry and those VRMs and staff who are wondering how to get ahead in it.